1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control method for an injection molding machine, wherein a moving member is driven by a servomotor and the position and the speed of the moving member are detected by an encoder in the servomotor.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 3 shows a known servomotor control system and FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of an example of the control state thereof. Numeral 1 designates a control device for controlling the displacement, the moving speed, the rotating speed or the force of a moving member, such as a movable plate or a screw, of an injection molding machine, driven by a servomotor 8, to predetermined values. The control device 1 is provided with a human machine interface (HMI) 2 which sets the predetermined values or indicates measurements of the moving member or messages, a process controller 3 related to the control of the servomotor 8, a sequence controller (not shown) and a temperature controller (not shown). The process controller 3 further includes a servo controller 4 and an integrated circuit (ASIC) 5 for specific purposes for each servomotor. After the ASIC 5 converts angular displacement data 10 of a serial signal of an encoder 9 transferred from the ASIC 7 of a servo amplifier 6 into parallel angular displacement data which is compared with a predetermined value for controlling the servomotor 8, the servo controller 4 outputs a command signal 15, which is calculated and generated to control the servomotor 8 in a closed-loop system, to a servo amplifier 6. This arithmetic operation is performed using a program, for each process cycle determined by a clock frequency of a microprocessor which constitutes the servo controller 4. The servo amplifier 6 is a conventional servo amplifier which outputs a driving current 16 of the servomotor 8, and transmits a request command 12 to the encoder 9 at each process cycle which is determined by a clock frequency of a microprocessor mounted on the servo amplifier 6, and receives an angular displacement data 13 of the servomotor 8 in a serial transfer fashion. The ASIC 7 of the servo amplifier 6 converts the transferred serial angular displacement data into parallel angular displacement data which is compared with the command signal 15, and the servo amplifier 6 performs an arithmetic operating process in a positional closed-loop system. After that, the servo amplifier 6 feedsback the current and amplifies the electric power to obtain a driving current 16.
An example using the control system of the prior art, as mentioned above is described with reference to numerical values in FIG. 4. A graph 23 represents an angular displacement data train of the servomotor 8, fetched by the servo amplifier 6 by transmitting the request command 12 from the ASIC 7 to the encoder 9 every 1 millisecond. A graph 24 represents the angular displacement data train of the servomotor 8, received in the control device 1 (the servo controller 4) from the servo amplifier 6 through the ASICs 5 and 7 at each process cycle (which is 2.5 millisecond in this example). Whenever the angular displacement data is received, the control device 1 (the servo controller 4) calculates a rotating speed, based on a difference between the present data and the previous data, i.e., an angular displacement and the period of time therefor. For example, in the graph 23, it is assumed that the data is updated every 1 millisecond and the servomotor 8 rotates by {fraction (1/100)} cycle in 1 millisecond. On this assumption, because the data in the graph 23 is updated twice with respect to the previous updating, the rotation of {fraction (2/100)} cycle occurs in 2.5 millisecond, and therefore, the rotating speed at an update time 26 in the graph 24 is given by (2xc3x971000xc3x9760)/(100xc3x972.5)=480 rpm. Likewise, because the data in the graph 23 is updated three times with respect to the previous updating, the rotation of {fraction (3/100)} cycle takes place in 2.5 millisecond, and hence the rotating speed at an update point 27 in the graph 24 is given by (3xc3x971000xc3x9760)/(100xc3x972.5)=720 rpm. The above operations are repeated and the rotating speed signal 25 of the servomotor 8 calculated by the control device 1 changes oscillatingly in spite of the fact that an actual rotating speed is constant.
In the above description, when the actual rotating speed of the servomotor 8 is assumed to be constant, the rotating speed signal oscillates. But because the angular displacement changes, the rotating speed which is actually calculated by the control device 1 repeats an oscillation more complex than that shown in the graph 25. Although, in the above discussion, there is a large difference in the processing speed between the ASIC 7 and the control device 1 so that the ASIC 7 sends the request command 12 to the encoder 9 at an interval of 1 millisecond and the control device 1 receives the angular displacement data at a processing cycle of 2.5 millisecond, even if the both the ASIC 7 and the control device 1 update the data at same specification and processing speed, the actual processing speeds are different from each other because the processors operate at different clock frequencies. Thus, if the cycle is prolonged, the rotating speed data changes oscillatingly.
Because the servo controller 4 operates and generates the command signal 15 for controlling the servomotor 8 in a closed-loop system using the rotating speed data which oscillates as mentioned above compared with a predetermined value for controlling the servomotor 8, and outputs the command signal 15 to the servo amplifier 6. Consequently, if the predetermined value for controlling does not change oscillatingly, the command signal 15 fluctuates irregularly, and, hence, the servomotor 8 repeats the hunting without revolving smoothly. Consequently, a ball screw and a ball nut to drive the moving member by the servomotor 8 oscillate, thus resulting in production of noise and causing a reduced lifetime.
In particular, this problem becomes serious when the moving member is driven by a plurality of servomotors 8, ball screws and ball nuts. That is, in the conventional control method in which the plural servomotors 8 oscillate at different cycles, each servomotor 8 cannot revolve synchronously in the process, and damage such as abnormal wear, which would not be caused in an arrangement of a single ball screw and a single ball nut, occur.
In the present invention, an encoder sends angular displacement data according to a request command supplied by a control device to the encoder, and the control device supplies a command signal calculated based on the received angular displacement data to a servo amplifier. More concretely, the servo amplifier sends the request command to the encoder according to the request command supplied by the control device to the servo amplifier, and the encoder which has received the request command signal transfers angular displacement data to the control device and to the servo amplifier by serial transmission. The servo amplifier and the control device, that have received the angular displacement data respectively convert the received serial angular displacement data into parallel angular displacement data by the ASIC. After arithmetically operating a rotating speed based on the parallel angular displacement signal and comparing the calculated rotating speed with a set speed value, the control device outputs a command signal to the servo amplifier. The servo amplifier controls the servomotor by comparing the command signal in connection with the angular displacement data.